Process for fastening elastic bands to textiles

ABSTRACT

OF THE TEXTILE SHEET MAY BE BONDED TOGETHER WITH THE BAND ENDS THEREBETWEEN TO FORM A GARMENT OR THE LIKE WITH A CLOSED LOOP. AN EDGE PORTION OF THE SHEET MAY BE PROVIDED WITH INWARDLY EXTENDING NOTCHES HAVING THEREIN PINS ON A CURVED PATH HOLDING THE TENSIONED BAND IN THE CURVED PATH PRIOR TO THE FUSION BONDING.   PROCESS FOR FASTENING A TENSIONED ELASTIC BAND TO A TEXTILE SHEET BY FUSION BONDS OR WELDS AT LEAST AT THE ENDS OF THE BAND AND PREFERABLY AT UNIFORMLY SPACED SPOTS THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE EXTENT OF THE BAND. THE BAND OR TEXTILE SHEET MAY BE PROVIDED WITH A THERMOPLASTIC SYNTHETIC MATERIAL TO IMPROVE THE FUSION BONDING OR WELDING. THE FUSION BONDING MAY PROVIDE THE ONLY CONNECTION OF THE BAND WITH THE TEXTILE SHEET AND OVERLAPPING SECTIONS

Feb. 2, 1971 BUTTER 3,560,292

PROCESS FOR FASTENING ELASTIC BANDS TO TEXTILES Filed March 4.. 1968 an [My 1 QM/MKf Z' United States Patent PROCESS FOR FASTENING ELASTIC BANDS TO TEXTILES Otto Butter, Marktoberdorf, Germany, assignor to Firma X. Fendt & Co., Marktoberdorf, Germany Filed Mar. 4, 1968, Ser. No. 710,228 Claims priority, application Germany, Mar. 4, 1967,

US. Cl. 156-229 14 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Process for fastening a tensioned elastic band to a textile sheet by fusion bonds or welds at least at the ends of the band and preferably at uniformly spaced spots throughout the entire extent of the band. The band or textile sheet may be provided with a thermoplastic synthetic material to improve the fusion bonding or welding. The fusion bonding may provide the only connection of the band with the textile sheet and overlapping sections of the textile sheet may be bonded together with the band ends therebetween to form a garment or the like with a closed loop. An edge portion of the sheet may be provided with inwardly extending notches having therein pins on a curved path holding the tensioned band in the curved path prior to the fusion bonding.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Elastic bands or similar elastically resilient components serve the purpose of pulling the textile article together, for example, for bringing it in close contact with the body, or for obtaining a tightly contacting joint at the waistband, sleeve band, or leg band.

It has been known to provide the articles of clothing, for the purpose of fastening elastic bands, with hemstitches through which the rubber band is pulled, the ends of this band being connected with each other by sewing or also be welding. For this purpose, the elastic bands must first be introduced into the hemstitch. This represents a separate and time-consuming operating step, which is still considerably lengthened in case of curved hemstitch. Furthermore, the connecting of the ends of the elastic bands always constitutes an additional process step, which step has to be conducted separately. It is furthermore conventional to sew an elastic band to the edge of an article of clothing. Since the elastic band must be attached to the article of clothing in the tensioned condition, special measures must be taken for the sewing operation; however, there will always be the difliculty of having to attach the elastic band, along the seam line provided, uniformly with the required tension. Particular difficulties are encountered with sewing the rubber bands along a curved line. Finally, each elastic band must be sewn to the garment by itself, each sewing operation representing a certain consumption of time. This expenditure in work and time has a particularly unfavorable effect in case of garments, particularly articles of underwear, including lingerie, that are discarded after being used once or a few times only and thus must be inexpensive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Consequently, the invention is based on the problem of simplifying the attachment of elastic bands to garments, particularly articles of clothing.

This problem is solved, in accordance with the invention, by spot-welding the elastic bands, with the aid of a welding medium, in the tensioned condition, at least the ends thereof, to the cut-to-size fabric.

A particularly simple fastening of the elastic bands to 3,560,292 Patented Feb. 2, 1971 'ice BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more clear from the following description of the drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a cut-to-size pattern of an article of clothing with the elastic bands fused thereon in the tensioned condition;

FIG. 2 shows the finished article of clothing in the assembled condition;

FIG. 3 is a top view of an elastic band arranged in a curved manner, on an enlarged scale; and

FIG. 4 is a partial view of an article of clothing with the elastic band applied thereon, in the non-tensioned condition.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 shows a cut-to-size piece of fabric 1 of an article of clothing, illustrated, as an example, in the form of baby pants, made of a textile sheet of cellulose or the like. This piece 1 is provided in the upper half with lateral extensions or edge portions 1' with respect to the lower half, which extensions can be folded along bending lines a. Elastic bands 2 are placed on the piece of material 1 proximate and in parallel with the upper and lower edges thereof; these elastic bands are held in the tensioned condition at their projecting ends by means of any desired clamping or holding devices, which may be conventional per se. The elastic bands 2 are preferably mixed or intermixed with fusible thermoplastic synthetic materials and thus are weldable. The weldability can also be achieved by coating the surface of the cut-to-size material 1 with thermoplastics in the zone of the elastic bands 2, or by admixing to the elastic band 2 a welding agent in the form of a coating or a thread of thermoplastic synthetic materials. The thread can be simply added to the elastic band 2, or it can also be intertwined therewith. During the welding step, the elastic bands 2 are spot-welded or fusion bonded at their ends by appropriate tools to the cut-to-size material 1 positioned therebeneath at points 3 by means of heat and pressure. Depending upon the purpose of utility of the article of clothing, one or more point-like welding connections 3' can be provided between the two welding spots 3 at the ends.

The cut-to-size material 1 rests on a supporting base 4 equipped with the clamping devices. In order to be able to fasten the elastic bands 2 also along a curved line on the cut material 1, the supporting base 4 is provided with a row of needles or pins 5 arranged along the seam line produced on the material. The needles or pins 5 can penetrate the cut-to-size material *1, or contact the edge thereof. If the elastic band 2 is to be overlapped by portions of the cut material 1, incisions or notches 6 are pro vided from the outside in this material. In the inner apex of these incisions, respectively one needle or pin 5 is arranged (FIG. 3). The elastic band 2 is placed around the needles or pins 5 and likewise fastened under tension at its ends to the supporting plate 4. It can be seen that, by an appropriate arrangement of the needles and pins 5 on the supporting plate 4, any desired curved seam can be provided in the manner of a polygon. Suitably, the elastic band 2 is connected with the cut-to-size material 1 at least at each indentation 6 'by one welding spot 3', but preferably by two welding spots 3' positioned on both sides of the indentation (FIG. 3).

The welding tool (not shown) comprises a number of welding devices corresponding to the number and position of the welding spots provided, so that all welding spots 3 and 3' are produced by a single welding operation.

After the welding process for fastening the elastic bands 2, a stencil 7 is placed on the material in such a manner that the lateral edges thereof are positioned along the bending edges a and the lower edge along a further bending edge b. Thereafter, the extensions 1 are folded inwardly and the lower portion of the cut-to-size material 1 is folded over in the upward direction, so that the external regions of this portion are congruent with the extensions 1 (FIG. 2).

In a further welding step, the congruent portions'are now connected with each other in the region of the extensions 1, if desired 'with the addition of a welding agent. In this connection, the ends of the elastic bands 2 can be positioned on top of each other or side-by-side and thus be welded together. In this manner, a shear seam capable of absorbing great forces is produced as the side seam. Of course, each elastic band 2 must remain in the tensioned condition until the last welding step has been accomplished. After the welding spots have cooled off, the preliminary tensioning can be released and the projecting ends of theelastic band can be severed. The elastic bands 2 can be provided. in a hem, but they can also be merely placed on top of the cut material 1 and welded together with this material. In the latter case, the provision of an appropriate number of welding spots 3 prevents the displacement of the elastic band 2. At the same time, a particularly inexpensive type of garment is produced, since the production of the hemstitching is eliminated, and the cut-to-size piece can be kept correspondingly smaller.

The cut-tosize material 1 can be made of natural or synthetic materials. Furthermore, the expression elastic band is understood to comprise all elastically resilient components suitable for textile articles for the purpose of obtaining resiliency. Suitable textile materials for utilizing the process of this invention are all those goods, in the broadest sense, encompassed. by textile materials; however, the use of the present invention is particularly advantageous in case of garments, particularly articles of clothing.

The advantages achieved by the present invention consist, in particular, in that a textile article with elastic bands attached thereto can be manufactured in a few process steps.

The process is furthermore well suited for the fully automated manufacturing process and consequently for large series production. Since garments, and articles of under-clothing, in particular, which are made of cellulose or the like are discarded after, if desired, one single utilization, an article is obtained which can be cheaply manufactured and fully satisfies the normally present requirements (wear and tear, stresses).

The preceding specifically illustrated examples of the method and apparatus have been shown in detail only for purposes of illustration; further modifications, variations and embodiments are contemplated within the spirit and scope of the present invention as definedby the following claims.

I claim:

1. A process for manufacturing articles made of textile materials, such as slips, baby pants, and the like, provided with rubber bands or similar elastic elements, which comprises, spreading out a one-piece, cut pattern in one plane on a supporting plate, adding one band-shaped or strip-shaped elastic element to at least some of the marginal zones of the closures of the article to be made, spotwelding the elastic element, in a tensioned condition to the cut pattern lying therebeneath, folding one-half of the cut pattern forming the front or back of the textile article over until it is disposed on the second half of the cut pattern, the lateral projections attached to the marginal zones of one of the halves of the cut pattern being folded over until they overlap the folded-over section of the cut pattern, and welding the lateral projections together with the folded over half of the cut pattern, thus closing off the closures of the article being made.

2. The process of claim 1, wherein the elastic elements are spot-welded at, at least the ends thereof.

3. The process of claim 1, wherein the elastic elements are mixed, intertwined or coated with a thermoplastic synthetic material.

4. The process of claim 1, wherein the textile material is cellulose.

5. The process of claim 1, wherein the article to be made is welded by coating the surface of the textile material in the zone of the elastic element, with a thermoplastic synthetic material.

6. The process of claim 1, wherein the elastic elements are spot-welded through the application of heat and pressure.

7. The process of calim 1, wherein in order to be able to fasten the elastic element along a curved line,'the supporting plate is provided with a row of pins arranged along the seam line produced on the material and elastic element is placed around the pins and fastened, under tension, at its ends to the supporting plate.

8. The process of claim 7, wherein the pins can penetrate the material or contact its edge.

9. The process of claim 7, wherein when the elastic element is to be overlapped by portions of the cut material, notches are cut in the periphery of the material and one pin is arranged in the respective inner apexes of these notches.

10. The process of claim 9, wherein the elastic element is connected to the material at, at least each notch by at least one welding spot.

11. The process of claim 10, wherein two welding spots are positioned on both sides of the notch.

12. The process of claim 1, wherein after the cut pattern is folded, the ends of the elasticelements are positioned on top of each other or side-by-side and then Welded together to produce a shear seam capable of absorbing substantial forces.

13. The process of claim 1, wherein after the welding spots have cooled off, the tensioning of the elastic elements can be released. 14. The process of claim 1, wherein the lateral projections attached to the marginal zones of one of the halves of the cut pattern is folded over before folding one-half of the cut pattern forming the front or back of the article to be manufactured over until it is disposed on the second half of the cut pattern.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,985,507 12/1934 Maida 2-67X 2,650,182 8/1953 Green 156-290X 2,706,699 4/1955 Plansoen et al 156229X 2,905,581 9/1959 Maxey 2243X 2,976,199 3/1961 Rand 2-243X 3,035,960 5/1962 Farkas et al. 156-229X 3,369,547 2/1968 Sack et al. 156-29OX FOREIGN PATENTS 1,258,338 2/1961 France 2243 REUBEN EPSTEIN, Primary Examiner US. 01. X.R. 

